Jimmy Kimmel was back on television last night after a two-month summer hiatus, returning just as Page Six reported that “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is expected to come to an end after next season.
“His contract is not getting extended,” a source told the outlet, with the late-night show reportedly set to sign off in May 2027 after a 24-year run on the air.
As speculation over the future of his ABC program made the rounds, Kimmel leaned into familiar territory: a sharp, politically loaded monologue aimed at Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump and I have one thing in common. We both accomplished nothing all summer long,” Kimmel said, taking shots at the 47th president over the war with Iran, gas prices and inflation. He also claimed Trump was trying to “keep us from voting in the midterms.”
The punchlines, such as they were, followed.
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(An ABC spokesperson later claimed Page Six’s “information is inaccurate.”)
What a metamorphosis Kimmel has undergone in that nearly a quarter century. He went from slightly chubby, sarcastic everyman to a bitter partisan preacher, repeatedly delivering the same sanctimonious sermon: orange man bad.
He has long ceased being entertaining. And a show like that sure is costly. Page Six reported ABC honchos has “been offering veteran execs early retirement packages as part of restructuring and cost-cutting across the company.”
Remember when late night television was a humorous and breezy format that helped us unwind before we met Mr. Sandman?
The jokes were topical and had broad appeal while taking lighthearted hits at both sides of the political aisle.
Then Trump was elected in 2016 and Kimmel and his then CBS counterpart Stephen Colbert turned their shows into MSNBC-after-dark, ranting against the right while explicitly elevating Dem politicians.
Want to understand Kimmel’s level of self-importance? Just look at what his wife and executive producer Molly McNearney said last year on the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast about losing relationships with relatives because they voted for Trump.
“It hurts me so much … my husband is out there fighting this man, and to me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,”
Yes, the pair believed Kimmel — whose literal job was to read jokes off a teleprompter and make amusing chatter with celebrities — was the battle-hardened leader of the Trump Resistance.
Kimmel and Colbert forgot their jobs were to entertain, not alienate.
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That’s not to say Trump doesn’t give them fodder with his ridiculous rants and trolling campaigns like renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.
However, when it came to Democrats, Kimmel and his late night hosts ignore all of the insane characters and obvious jokes they’re serving up on a platter.
In fact, Kimmel had now disgraced ex-Congressman Eric Swalwell on his show last November to announce his bid for California Governor. When the horny pol went down in a flaming pile of sexual misconduct accusations, Kimmel suddenly became shy.
Crickets.
And Biden? He was a bumbling old man with a former crackhead son who impregnated a stripper. The family denied the baby’s existence until being shamed into acknowledging her along with the rest of the grandchildren.
The jokes write themselves. But any mention of the Biden family scandals ended with Kimmel making Trump the punchline.
Instead Kimmel decided to go after a segment of the American people. In 2021, he said those who didn’t get the covid jab shouldn’t get a hospital bed.
“Vaccinated person having a heart attack? Yes, come right on in,” he said adding, “We’ll take care of you. Unvaccinated guy who gobbled horse goo? Rest in peace, wheezy.
So, who was watching this show?
Barely anyone. But the out of touch Hollywood establishment kept making arguments for its cultural worth.
Late night has long been dead, first suffering from cord cutting and a balkanized media landscape. Then it was bludgeoned to death by the likes of Trump obsessed Kimmel and Colbert.
Colbert’s show was reportedly losing $40 million a year before it was taken off air in May. He did not go quietly.
We had to endure his never-ending goodbye tour, where his fellow celebs feted him like some sort of First Amendment martyr. In reality, he was just costing the network tons of money.
Presumably, we can expect the same protracted farewell from Kimmel.
But I’ll always remember Kimmel as a man who allowed a Big Apple-developer-turned-president to become his entire personality.